G2G: Father of Angus MacQueen/McQueen of Isle of Skye and North Carolina?

Question

I'd like to ask for some help with the profile of Angus MacQueen-69. I’d like to know which Scottish sources I've added to his Research Notes are the most reliable because the sources don't all agree on his parentage.

Angus’ family has had work done on it in the past. Unfortunately, many of his family's profiles are now orphaned. I've recently adopted some of them and started with Angus, and now need help verifying who his father was.

I've put up Research Notes on his profile with the sources I've found but there seems to be some conflict concerning his father's details. There is a profile already in existence for a father for Angus, that is Alexander MacQueen-37. I'm not saying his parents on that profile are incorrect. I'm just saying that sources seem to disagree.

The main issue is whether his father was William and his grandfather Archibald; or else his father was that same Archibald, making that same William his brother.

Briefly, looking at the sources as a whole, it looks like they are talking about two different Alexanders, born a generation apart, 1) Alexander MacQueen, Tacksman of Brunistat, the son of Rev. Archibald MacQueen and 2) Alexander MacQueen, Tacksman of Monkstadt, the son of Rev. William MacQueen (Rev. William was the son of Rev. Archibald and brother of Alexander, Tacksman of Brunistat). The "Clan Donald" book chose the older Alexander, Tacksman of Brunistat, son of Rev. Archibald, as the father of Angus. Quattlebaum chose the younger Alexander, Tacksman of Monkstadt, son of Rev. William, as Angus' father.

I won't be able to go any further with the family until I am more certain about the details of Angus’ father (Alexander).

I would appreciate any assistance.

Profiles -

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=MacQueen-69&errcode=saved

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/MacQueen-37

Sources - 

•Hew Scott, D.D. "Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, Volume VII. Synods of Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, Glenelg, Orkney and of Shetland. The Church in England, Ireland and Overseas." Published by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh: Tweeddale Court 1928. https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc00scot/page/179/mode/1up

•Hew Sçott, D.D. "Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, Volume VIII. Ministers of the Church from Date of Publication of Volumes I-VII, 1914-28, to Union of the Churches, 2nd October 1929, and Addenda and Corrigenda 1560-1949." Published by Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh; Tweeddale Court 1950. https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc0008scot/page/684/mode/1up

•Quattlebaum, Alexander McQueen, "Clergymen and Chiefs: A Genealogy of the MacQueen and Macfarlane Families.", Charleston, SC: South Carolina Historical Society, 1990, Google Books.

https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Clergymen_and_Chiefs/T-6oCucIvsMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&client=safari

•MacDonald, Rev. A. of Killearnan and MacDonald, Rev. A. of Kiltarlilty. "The Clan Donald: Vol. III." Inverness: (The Northern Counties Publishing Company, Ltd.:1904). Note - page 562, #7.

https://archive.org/details/clandonald03macd/page/561/mode/1up

•Rev. Donald MacKinnon, “The MacQueens of Skye”, Clan MacLeod Magazine, 1949 and 1950. (Quattlebaum refers to this article in his book, but I couldn't see it available online.)

•Mrs. Annabella Bunting MacElyea, “The MacQueens of Queensdale. A Biography of Col. James MacQueen and his Descendants.” Charlotte, N.C. 1916. Observer Printing House. Chapter VI, “Katherine MacQueen and Her Descendants”, pages 63-66. (Refers only to Angus' siblings, and mentions Angus nerver marrying and living and dying in the home of his brother Colonel Donald)

https://archive.org/details/macqueensofqueen00inmace/page/66/mode/1up

Comments

I've been trying to sort the McQueen branches for a few years.  I stared the McQueen DNA Study in hope Y-DNA would help.

To date, none of the descendants of Angus or this Alexander who have participated match each other or any branch represented in the study.  We hope more McQueen males will participate to assist our research.

As for the Queensdale genealogy, I've always felt it was a b it suspect, but have any resources to prove or disprove it.

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Thank you for replying Scott.

You said, “none of the descendants of Angus or this Alexander who have participated ..”, so are you saying that some of your participants claim Angus who died in North Carolina had children? I haven’t found any records for a marriage, children or death relating to Angus so any records at all on Angus would be very helpful.

The only records for Angus’ life in America I have are: his family’s (Angus, mother and siblings) immigration record to North Carolina in 1802; and an 1850 census record of him (likely but not certain) living with his sister Flora and her husband Angus Fairly in North Carolina; and then there’s the Bunting book claiming he never married and lived and died in his brother Colonel Donald’s home in North Carolina. 

Unfortunately though, information on Angus’ life and death in North Carolina still wouldn’t necessarily tell me which person, Archibald or William, was Angus’ father. That’s the information I need to continue with his family tree.

Thank you again.

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The Angus some of the participants was early.  There is an Angus in Cumberland County in the 1770s and another or the same in Moore County in the early 1800s.  An Angus married Mary McKithen in 1803. Here is a link Angus' estate in 1774

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:2:77TD-VH9J-5?view=fullText&keywords=Angus%20McQueen&groupId=DGS-004763348

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Thanks Scott. I had a bit of a look at the information. Yes they are earlier Anguses, too early for my Angus, born about 1785 and immigrating in 1802. It's interesting though to see how so many of these MacQueens link back through Rev. Archibald, 5th of Rigg and 3rd of Snizort.

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Hi Carmel, Ive now had a bit of a look at this question - thx for drawing it to my attention - apologies for a lengthy response.  Most, if not all of the references that you mention draw upon each other and repeat each other's errors.  Luckily, Scotlands People have recently made available digitally the Skye Presbytery Separate Register, which has original dates of birth for all of children of Rev WIlliam MacQueen, and also a list of Rev Archibald's children by his second wife Florence. https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virtual-volumes/volume-images/volume_data-CH2-330-8/GAZ00152?image_number=104#image_position

The list for William was drawn up on 15 July 1758, and then added to as each child was born.  At that time he noted he had 2 children - Archibald (b 12 Mar 1755), and Florence (b 23 May 1757).  These are followed by separate entries for:

• Catherine (b 18 Oct 1758)
• Donald (b 19 Feb 1760)
• James (b 6 Jul 1761 - d 28 Nov 1761)
• Mary (b 27 Jun 1763)
• James (b 27 Sep 1764)
• Kenneth (b 17 Feb 1768)
• Alexander (b 10 Jun 1769)
• Angus (b 27 May 1771).

If Alexander son of WIlliam was Angus MacQueen-69s father, he would have been 16 at the time that Angus was born - not impossible, obviously, but it does raise some doubts for me. Comparison with dates provided in Clergymen and Chief reveal very little correlation. Fasti also lists an unnamed daughter who married MacLeod of Bay. There is no record of a further daughter in the Register.  The next entry for WIlliam MacQueen in the Register is his death in 1787.

Reverend Archibald (William's father) also provides a list of his offspring who are named as dependents as of 1753 in the Register.  It does not appear to include his children from the first marriage. It states that Donald, William, Alexander, Angus and John (in that order) are all above 21 years of age (ie born before 1732). Margaret was born 8 Sep 1737 and Murdoch was born 3 April 1744.  Again, comparison with Quattlebaum shows little correlation with the last two (in fact he places Murdochs DOB as abt 1725). There are also some questions about the date of his birth, which Fasti and Quattlebaum state as 1671.  Archibald is stated to be the son of Rev Donald MacQueen and Margaret MacDonald, daughter of Hugh MacDonald of Glenmore. Clan Donald Vol3 p523 states that Hugh married Ann Robertson in 1671, and that is substantiated by ante-nuptual records in the NRAS (3273/5287).  Hugh then married Katherine MacDonald (or MacDonnell) in 1782 (NRAS 3273/5288).  Margaret is a daughter from the first marriage according to Clan Donald, and therefore was born between 1671 and 1682. If that is the case, then Rev Archibald is either not the son of Donald and Margaret, or he was born a couple of decades later than 1671.

Similarly, there are comparison issues between the Skye Presbytery Register and Rev Donald MacQueen of Kilmuir's (Williams brother) details.  The Register states that Donalds first marriage to Betty Martin (25 May 1744) resulted in 3 children:

• Isobel (b 4 Nov 1745)
• Janet (b 16 Jan 1746)
• Betty (or Betsy) (b 17 Sep 1748

The Register documents his second marriage was to Janet MacDonald (not Ann as the Fasti and Quattlebaum and Clan Donald have stated) dated 13 June 1749 and she died before 1758 as the contemporaneous record states he is a widower for the second time. He has six living children in 1758 - the three from the second marriage are:

• John (b 9 Apr 1750)
• Donald (b Nov 1755 - no specific date)
• Mary (b 26 Dec 1756) - Janet may have died in childbirth as there is a note in one of the old texts that she died in Dec 1756.

Quattlebaum lists a "son" who died in 1786, and a "daughter" Christina who never married.  The Register does not list these.

Realising that even contemporary records are not always complete, the Register was an important document for the Presbytery to track widows and dependents as they were provided a pension and support by the Presbytery, and as such, i would have a reasonable level of trust in the contents.

Moving to the MacQueens of Queensdale, they descend from a different line of MacQueens (one that I descend from). According to Quattlebaum, Colonel James descends from Rev Angus MacQueen of Sleat. Colonel James was son of Archibald MacQueen and Florence MacDonald (half sister to the Flora MacDonald). Colonel Donald, according to Quattlebaum was son of Alexander (b 1769 above) son of William. MacQueen-69 profile states that Colonel Donald was Angus' brother.  In fact, in reading both Quattlebaum and the MacQueens of  Queensville, Colonel Donald married Katherine, daughter of Colonel James, and was therefore his son in law as well as a distant relative - but not a brother.

To return to the original questions - the sources listed above are secondary sources, and they are not at all well referenced. I would use them as the "best we have" but not accurate or precise. There are clearly errors and discrepancies.  It would be useful to search for and go back to primary sources for the references to the tacksmen of Monkstadt and Brunistadt to see if there is more information to be gleaned and whether better links to the sons of the Rigg/Snizort ministers can be made.

My sense is your Angus is not descended from William. If he is descended from Rev Archibald and Florence, then his father Alexander would have been born before 1732. That fits better timewise, but there is still work to be done to confirm that your Angus is not actually the son of some other Alexander MacQueen, as it was a common name and emigrants often claimed spurious links to Lairds and Tacksmen (and Flora MacDonald).

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Thank you Suzanne so much for finding those records on ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk and explaining it all.